DAY 3 — Spread your tentacles in Telluride
Sixteen year-old Max Walker-Silverman, a Telluride native has a message for visiting teens: “Get out of the mountain village and spread our tentacles and you will find a cool historical town.”
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Day 2 — On to Telluride
We drive from Silverton about two hours across a mountain pass to another world at Telluride Ski Resort, where we check in to a luxe condo–so luxe I can’t even figure out the lights or the shower (do I want rain shower, multi jets…?) at The Peaks Resort
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Five Days in Silverton and Telluride, Colorado
Some people do make their dreams come true. “It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of fun and you just have to learn to roll with the punches when there is an obstacle in your path,” says Aaron Brill, the 38-year-old owner and founder, with his 37 year-old wife Jenny, of Silverton Mountain Resort in Colorado (www.silverton.com) that is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. This isn’t any ski resort. For one thing, there is only one lift and no bathrooms–just an outhouse.
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Aboard the Biggest Cruise Ship Afloat
hink every kind of food the kids and you could want 24-7 (wine-pairing menus to burgers and fries, chicken noodle soup to gazpacho, healthy smoothies to ice cream sundaes), entertainment (“Hairspray” to synchronized divers performing in an outdoor AquaTheater and children’s puppet shows) and activity (mini-golf and water playground, teen disco and giant arcade, carousel and junior spa).
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Buying Some Gifts for the Traveling Family
Instead of rushing around trying to find the perfect gift for my favorite family travelers, I’m going to get them what I find most helpful to have with me when I’m traveling with my gang. According to a new survey from TripAdvisor.com, 38 percent of travelers hope to receive a travel-related gift this December.
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Jivn’ Jellyfish to learning to be a DJ
Kids rule aboard Oasis of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s new megaship. There are designated areas on board for arts (partner with Crayola); science experiments (want to learn about volcanoes, bugs or global warming), and an awesome kids’ theater where Broadway veteran John Tartaglia has developed a puppet show that is performed by the youth staff, who all incidentally have college degrees in education, recreation or related fields AND three to five years working with kids.
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DAY 2 on the Oasis of the Seas– What to do?
Do I want a roast beef sandwich or a slice of fresh made pizza, popcorn shrimp and fries or a salad made to my specifications? This is the largest cruise ship at sea—when full, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas can carry 6,296 guests and a crew of 2,165. So it makes sense there’d be more dining options.
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ABOARD OASIS, THE BIGGEST SHIP AT SEA
Think Vegas on Steroids. Think overstimulation. Think every kind of food, entertainment you—and your kids could want. If you don’t mind vacationing with 6,200 plus guests and 2,165 crew (from over 71 countries—welcome aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas which made its maiden voyage December 5, 2009.
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A Caribbean Resort That Works for Generations
Welcome to Beaches Resort in Turks and Caicos — the family resort of the Sandals brand — where the littlest vacation goers like Milo Greenspan rule. Milo may only be four but he drove his family’s vacation decision — straight from Chicago to this resort. “He’s been asking for the last two years to come to Elmo’s Beach,” explained his mom Catherine. “And if he’s happy, I’m happy.”
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TURKS AND CAICOS – Last day
The bride and groom say their vows in front of the sea under a canopy billowing in the wind, their guests sitting in front of them on white-covered chairs. There’s no one else on the beach.
It couldn’t be more romantic or beautiful. I’m watching from my balcony of my room at the Gansevoort on Turks and Caicos, where the wedding couple and their 80 guests have been ensconced for the last few days.
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TURKS AND CAICOS – Day three
We’re stretched out on the white sand beach staring at the turquoise water. We didn’t have to fight for beach chairs and though I’m told the Gansevoort Turks & Caicos (www.gansevoorttc.com) is sold out this weekend courtesy of a wedding. It is only 91 rooms. Neither the beach nor the drop-dead gorgeous pool (have you ever seen cushioned lounges that rest in a few inches of water?) are crowded.
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Turks and Caicos — Day Two
Milo Greenspon may only be four but he drove his family’s vacation decision—straight from Chicago to Beaches Resort in Turks and Caicos.
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TURKS AND CAICOS, November 2009 — Day One
The concert goers are swaying to the music, clapping and crowding the stage so they can reach out and touch their favorite stars. Their smiling parents are right behind, video cams and digital cameras in hand. That’s because these concert goers are toddlers and preschoolers, many in diapers. Their stars are Elmo, Burt, Ernie, Cookie Monster and the latest to join the Sesame Street gang Abby Cadabby, a fairy in training. They sing and dance for the kids for an hour
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Giving Back While You Travel
Avocados bigger than grapefruit, star fruit, breadfruit, wild watercress and vegetables I’ve never heard of… We’re not perusing a menu on the Caribbean island of St Lucia. We’re touring a local hillside farm owned for more than 40 years by the Richards family. Isaac Alphonse, the purchasing manager for The Landings
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St. Lucia — Last Day
We sit on the deck overlooking the ocean, palm trees and St Lucia’s most famous site–The Pitons, the two tall lava cones that differentiate this Caribbean island. We’ve stopped at Jalousie Plantation, spread over a 192 acres on what was once a working sugar plantation just outside the town of Soufriere in between Pitons. We are staring right at the mountain—right next to us!
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St. Lucia — Day Three
It’s not even 10 am and already they are handing out the rum punch! We’re on a catamaran courtesy of Carnival Sailing that will take us from the north part of the island where we are staying at The Landings resort to the town of Soufriere (which translates to “sulfur in the air,” we’re told). Along the way we have spectacular views pf St Lucia’s claim to fame — Petit Piton and Gros Piton.
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St. Lucia — Day Two
Tangerines, star fruit, breadfruit, wild watercress. We’re not perusing a menu in St Lucia. We’re touring a local farm owned by The Richards family for more than 40 years. Isaac Alphonse, the purchasing manager for The Landings, the 120-plus unit new resort where we are staying
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St. Lucia, November 2009 — Day One
There’s something to be said for direct flights to out of the way places. We are taking Jet Blue’s new nonstop service from JFK to St. Lucia, a small island near Martinique and Barbados. But instead of taking all day with connections in Miami or San Juan, we arrive in a little more than four hours. Nice!
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Scoring a Holiday Deal That Won’t Bust the Budget
I’m perched in a wooden treehouse lazing on a cushy double mattress atop a white sand beach along Mexico’s Riviera Maya. Overlooking the turquoise Caribbean Sea, I’m about as far away from holiday hoopla and craziness as I can get when the beach butler comes by to see if I need anything.
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PIGEON FORGE, Day four
Check out the lights! Four million–really–blue and green and clear ones on trees and buildings. Welcome to Dollywood. Of course it is named for star Dolly Parton who grew up in a two room cabin not far from here, pigeon forge, TN—you can even see a replica of the cabin where she grew up with 11 brothers and sisters and it seems one bed.
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PIGEON FORGE – Day Three
I haven’t stopped eating—corn fritters made from corn meal milled at the historic Old Mill that is on the National Register of Historic Places–continuously operating for 170 years. I started the day at The Log Cabin with country ham and fresh biscuits.
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PIGEON FORGE – Day Two
Trivia question: What is the most visited National Park? (Hint: It isn’t Yellowstone, Yosemite or the Grand Canyon) It’s Great Smoky National Park—more than 550,000 acres that straddle Tennessee and North Carolina that attracts more than 9 MILLION visitors a year.
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PIGEON FORGE, Tennessee – Day one
The Living room is beautifully decked out for the holidays with greenery, wreaths and a tree in all its glory. On the mantel in my bedroom, Santa shares space with golden elk and garland festooned with bright red holiday balls and ribbon. Even the lamp is tied with a big red and gold holiday bow and there’s a poinsettia (albeit a silk one) in the bathroom.
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When Life Interferes With a Planned Celebration
Life has a way of changing planned celebrations. Jean Anne McKiernan and Richard Sandano were planning a big Brooklyn, N.Y., wedding when they discovered—very happily—they were going to have a baby.
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Sailing Home from Bermuda
Life is too short to waste a minute, I think. We say goodbye to Bermuda and Hamilton’s Town Hall (click image to enlarge) DAY 5—I wake up on board Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas
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High Tea at the Hamilton Fairmont Hotel
We learn it is the only place—and the place—for a traditional English Tea. In the 1840s, Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, wanted a snack for tea and thinly sliced bread and butter.
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To San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences, the Greenest Museum in the Country
In the year since it has re opened, the Cal Academy has emerged as the city’s top cultural tourist attraction, drawing more visitors than Alcatraz Kids get up close and personal with specimens at the Academy of Sciences
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The rain stops in Bermuda
Not sunny, but not raining. Just 66,000 people live on this pristine island—actually a series of about 360 small coral island, which is part of the British Commonwealth. Yes, we see businessmen wearing Bermuda shorts, knee-high socks, and shirts and ties to work. Hedges are manicured and lawns mowed. Houses are painted a rainbow of colors—bright orange, green and blue, pastel pinks and yellows.
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Cruising when the sun doesn’t shine
It’s not the weather we imagined on our trip to Bermuda. The seas are rocking. It’s pouring and the waves are high. We get sprayed standing on our little balcony.
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A cruise to Bermuda with old family friends
The cruise was long planned and then a week before tragedy stuck…
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To Yosemite National Park
I smile remembering two other kids about the same age who were equally proud of themselves for making it to the top of Vernal Fall, also their first “big hike” in Yosemite.
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A visit to California wine country
We drive to Healdsburg, a small picturesque town where, around the Plaza Park square, are tasting rooms, restaurants, antique shops, and more. My 23 year old daughter Reggie is excited because she scores a cast iron frying pan for $15. I’m excited because it is a perfect sunny fall day and I’m spending it with my husband and daughter.
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A quick trip to Yosemite National Park
DAY 4 — Five year old Rivers Klopson is turning cartwheels on the rocks next to Yosemite’s famous Vernal Falls. It’s sunny and everyone sitting…
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To the historic ships in SF where Reggie works
Here’s the chance to give your kids a lesson — without them even realizing it — in San Francisco’s seafaring past and the people who made their lives sailing in and out of San Francisco Bay, hauling lumber, canned fruit and more. Five vessels — the Alma, Balclutha, Eureka, Hercules and C.A. Thayer are designated National Historic Landmarks.
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Learning About African-American History at Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg explores the lives and complexities of free and enslaved blacks during the Revolutionary Era, highlighting personal and unified contributions, sacrifices and decisions made by 19th-century blacks in securing their freedom
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At the Cal Academy of Sciences
We’re at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco which in the year since it has reopened has emerged as San Francisco’s top cultural tourist attraction, drawing more visitors than even Alcatraz.
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Visting San Francisco with my grown up daughter
The Hotel San Francisco atop Nob Hill was getting ready for its grand opening when the city suffered its devastating earthquake April 18, 1906. The hotel survived and a year later, opened, celebrating the city’s renewal. The hotel has hosted celebrities and presidents. Tony Bennett first sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco “here.
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Meeting Some Ghosts
Seen any ghosts lately? Now’s your chance. Time travel back to the 18th century where you can get up close and personal with pirates and ghosts at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.
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To an Exotic Place That Loves Kids!
Who says kids and romance don’t go together? Even in a place as famous for honeymoons as Bora Bora, families’ rule, especially as Air Tahiti Nui continues to offer kids free deals on flights. There are also great hotel deals
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Getting Up-close and Personal with Animals at Zoos and Aquariums in the Fall
It helps to have the kids read up on the animals before you go, as long as it’s fun and doesn’t turn into something “completely boring and educational!”
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When Everyone Else is Back in School
So what if you’re toting a stroller and diaper bag or home-school assignments, while everyone else is waiting for the school bus and arranging car pools
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New York — a foodie paradise
It’s impossible to go hungry in New York—not with vendors selling hot dogs, pretzels, kabobs and more on every corner. It’s also impossible to get bored eating in New York, whether you want to head to China Town or Ninth Avenue for good ethnic eats, great burgers, pasta, pizza or more gourmet fare.
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Central Park through a preschooler’s eyes
We saw the penguins and the puffins, the sea lions and polar bears Ida and Gus, the Red Pandas and the Snow Monkeys. The Snow Leopards — new to the zoo — seemed to be hiding. The Wildlife Conservation Society, which oversees The Central Park Zoo as well as the Bronx Zoo and others in NYC (www.wcs.org), is a leader in the care and conservation of these creatures.
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A few days in New York with a preschooler
This is my four year-old cousin Hannah Sitzman’s first Broadway production and she loves every minute of it — from the costumes and sets to the music to the black tee shirt which spells out “Shrek” in pink sparkly letters. I especially loved the magic of the costumes.
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Should resorts ban kids?
A Denver Post reader told me she was “seething” when she read the column I wrote about Bora Bora being a good bet for families…
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Taking the Kids — To College
Like the 3 million other families taking freshman to school this year, I knew the weekend would be stressful, not to mention an emotional rollercoaster
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Meeting Some Bears in Alaska
It appears we’ve picked the perfect time to visit. Vermillion, who’s called Verm, explains there are more bears than there have been in years, including three sets of triplets and three sets of twins all born this spring
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Taking the Kids — And Myself to a Spa
My mom never took me to a spa — I don’t think she’s ever been to one herself — but I’ve taken my wilderness-loving daughters to spas from the Caribbean to Colorado, from Arizona to Austria
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To Mexico Where You’ll Find Great Deals
Whether you want adventures with your kids, want to learn about endangered sea turtles or if you simply want to hit the beach, there’s no better time to visit Mexico.
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On an ‘uncruise’ Alaskan sea adventure
Unlike the big cruise ships, we can take our time in Glacier Bay, which offers 3.3 million acres of glaciers that calve right in front of us
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Grandparents and Kids Take on the Big Apple with Elderhostel
Elderhostel is known for their affordable, educational programs for seniors. But what many don’t realize is that there are 200 different grandparent-grandchild programs with almost 400 departures
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Cheering on the humpback whales
“HONK! HONK!” They are really whales—eight to 10 of them right in front of the boat alternately spewing water high in the air, honking and “fluking”—diving for food and showing us their magnificent tails. We watch them “blow” spewing water high into the air. It’s fun to watch them!
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No better way to get the kids interested in nature
There are seven kids aged 11 to 16-six of them boys — in our group. And in Alaska, of course, we don’t let the rain stop us whether we’re kayaking to a glacier and ice caves, looking for bear on the beach or trying to track them as we bushwhack our way through old forest.
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Snap…crackle…BOOM! Kayaking among glaciers and ice bergs
We are in the middle of Glacier Bay, paddling through the ice — big icebergs, little icebergs. One looks like an alligator. “I thought they were cool — they were so little on top and, oh wow — they were huge underneath,” said 14-year-old Xander Majercik.
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Sailing Around the Tahitian Islands
Tahiti is closer than many think — just a little over seven hours from Los Angeles, about two hours farther than Hawaii — and Air Tahiti Nui is encouraging more families to visit with kids-fly-free offers and discounted hotel rates.
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Learning how to kayak among ice bergs
“Our aim is to keep your wilderness experience from being impacted by the cruise ships,” says Kimber Owen, who found her way to her boat and Alaska from a Texas horse farm after she was widowed in her early forties. “It was too sad to stay,” she explained.
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To Glacier Bay on a converted WWII minesweeper
We’ve joined three other families — together we have seven kids ranging from one 11 year-old girl and six teenage boys — for a week-long cruise through the 300 square acre (the size of Connecticut!) Glacier Bay on the 12-passenger Sea Wolf — built in 1941 as a U.S. Navy Minesweeper
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Day 2 in Alaska — the joys of fishing
DAY 2 — “The fish must hate us,” moans 13 year old Miles Singer. We are on the world-famous Kenai River in Alaska with one…
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Back the to the bush — Day One of a new Alaska adventure
DAY ONE (July 15, 2009) — Bears on the runway? “Routine,” says Gerry Winkler, the pilot of our six-passenger Cessna. Routine, that is, when you…
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On a Trip Down Memory Lane at Disneyland
Ignore those office emails, forget all about the economy and for an afternoon focus instead on what’s really important, especially on vacation — making memories with the kids at a place where you made your own childhood memories
